Medical chopper crashes off Kinmen

The pilot, Chao Chia-juei, was rescued by a Kinmen Coast Guard(KCG) patrol boat at 5: 50 a.m., while co-pilot Wu Chao-kang was picked up about an hour later.

As of 9:30 a.m., the third crew member, male nurse Hsu Huan-mao, was still missing, according to the KCG.

"The search for the missing nurse is continuing, " KCG officials said.

Chao, suffering from hypothermia and breathing difficulties, was admitted for intensive care observation at Kinmen General Hospital, where hospital authorities later described his condition as not life-threatening.

The co-pilot, meanwhile, was not so lucky and was pronounced dead by the hospital after paramedics tried in vain to resuscitate him for two hours.

The helicopter, coded BK-117 and belonging to Sunrise Airlines, crashed into the sea as it was approaching the island's Shangyi Airport at around 4: 20 a.m., airport authorities said.

The chopper, purchased by Sunrise exclusively for medical transport, had carried a patient suffering a coronary from the Kinmen hospital to Taipei at around midnight the previous night and took off from Taipei's Songshan Airport at around 3 a.m. for the return flight.

The Aviation Safety Council under the Executive Yuan immediately began an investigation into the cause of the crash.

Meanwhile, Kinmen Magistrate Lee Chu-feng expressed shock that it was the second crash of a helicopter of this type belonging to the airline in just over a year and demanded an explanation from Sunrise Airlines, as well as an overall review of the medical transport operations.

The previous helicopter crash also occurred off Kinmen May 24, 2008 after transporting a patient in critical condition to Taipei, an accident blamed by the company on thick fog.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos Respond to this email